Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07ADDISABABA854
2007-03-19 16:27:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Addis Ababa
Cable title:
UK SEEKS CONTINUED COLLABORATION TO EFFECT RELEASE
how-toVZCZCXRO9331 PP RUEHROV DE RUEHDS #0854 0781627 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 191627Z MAR 07 FM AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5202 INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY RHMFISS/CJTF HOA PRIORITY RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY RUEKDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L ADDIS ABABA 000854
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR AF AND AF/E
LONDON, PARIS, ROME FOR AFRICA WATCHER
CJTF-HOA FOR POLAD
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/19/2017
TAGS: PREL PTER ASEC ET ER
SUBJECT: UK SEEKS CONTINUED COLLABORATION TO EFFECT RELEASE
OF ETHIOPIAN HOSTAGES
REF: A. ADDIS ABABA 853
B. ASMARA 300 (NOTAL)
Classified By: ERIC WONG, ACTING POL-ECON COUNSELOR. REASON: 1.4 (D).
C O N F I D E N T I A L ADDIS ABABA 000854
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR AF AND AF/E
LONDON, PARIS, ROME FOR AFRICA WATCHER
CJTF-HOA FOR POLAD
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/19/2017
TAGS: PREL PTER ASEC ET ER
SUBJECT: UK SEEKS CONTINUED COLLABORATION TO EFFECT RELEASE
OF ETHIOPIAN HOSTAGES
REF: A. ADDIS ABABA 853
B. ASMARA 300 (NOTAL)
Classified By: ERIC WONG, ACTING POL-ECON COUNSELOR. REASON: 1.4 (D).
1. (C) DCM and poloff met with UK Ambassador to Ethiopia
Robert Dewar on March 16 to discuss the recent release of
five European hostages and their return to Addis Ababa.
Dewar expressed deep appreciation for USG cooperation
throughout the hostage ordeal, especially for providing
information on the Afar region and its stakeholders, where
the kidnapping occurred, and called for continued
collaboration among UK and U.S. embassies in Addis Ababa,
Asmara, and Djibouti. Dewar confirmed that the five former
hostages (4 Britons and 1 French national) returned in good
health, and were treated decently by their captors. The
freed hostages include: Peter Rudge, First Secretary, British
Embassy; Jonathan Ireland, administrative support staff,
British Embassy; Malcolm Smart, Department for International
Development (DFID); Laure Beaufils, a French national
employed by DFID; and Rosanna Moore, spouse of the head of
the British Council in Addis Ababa.
2. (C) Amb. Dewar said HMG continued to be concerned about
nine remaining Ethiopian hostages and their welfare, and that
their safe return and release was a priority for British
Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett. As highlighted in a
March 14 public statement issued on behalf of the freed
hostages, Dewar said statements and speculation should be
limited so as to not jeopardize the remaining hostages' safe
release. (NOTE: Media and the GOE report that eight hostages
remain captive, but the British Embassy believes there may be
nine. END NOTE.)
3. (U) Dewar said the French Embassy initially alerted the
British Embassy to suspicions of an abduction. A false but
widely circulated report that a French tourist group was
missing in the same area had heightened UK Embassy suspicions
regarding the safety of the largely British tour group in the
Afar region in northern Ethiopia. While the earlier rumor
regarding the French tourists was soon proven false, the
British Embassy had confirmed that the British tour group had
been abducted on March 1. Photographs of the tourists'
bullet-ridden vehicles circulated in the media less than a
week after the abduction. Dewar reported that the emptied
vehicles were completely disabled by gunfire, but that no
hostages were injured as a result. He confirmed details of
their abduction in the midst of an ARDUF raid on an Ethiopian
tax office (ref B).
4. (U) In response to the hostage-taking, Post issued a
warden message on March 8 announcing new restrictions on
travel of Embassy personnel along the Ethiopia-Eritrea border.
5. (C) COMMENT: We refer to intel channels for the extent of
Eritrea's role in the hostage-taking. In a subsequent meeting
on March 19 with P-5, EU, and other Ambassadors (ref A),
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Tekeda blamed Eritrean
intelligence for orchestrating the hostage-taking, and said
Ethiopia would seek to condemn Eritrea at the African Union
and the UN. Ethiopia's desire to highlight Eritrean
culpability runs counter to the UK's belief that such
publicity could endanger the remaining hostages. END COMMENT.
YAMAMOTO
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR AF AND AF/E
LONDON, PARIS, ROME FOR AFRICA WATCHER
CJTF-HOA FOR POLAD
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/19/2017
TAGS: PREL PTER ASEC ET ER
SUBJECT: UK SEEKS CONTINUED COLLABORATION TO EFFECT RELEASE
OF ETHIOPIAN HOSTAGES
REF: A. ADDIS ABABA 853
B. ASMARA 300 (NOTAL)
Classified By: ERIC WONG, ACTING POL-ECON COUNSELOR. REASON: 1.4 (D).
1. (C) DCM and poloff met with UK Ambassador to Ethiopia
Robert Dewar on March 16 to discuss the recent release of
five European hostages and their return to Addis Ababa.
Dewar expressed deep appreciation for USG cooperation
throughout the hostage ordeal, especially for providing
information on the Afar region and its stakeholders, where
the kidnapping occurred, and called for continued
collaboration among UK and U.S. embassies in Addis Ababa,
Asmara, and Djibouti. Dewar confirmed that the five former
hostages (4 Britons and 1 French national) returned in good
health, and were treated decently by their captors. The
freed hostages include: Peter Rudge, First Secretary, British
Embassy; Jonathan Ireland, administrative support staff,
British Embassy; Malcolm Smart, Department for International
Development (DFID); Laure Beaufils, a French national
employed by DFID; and Rosanna Moore, spouse of the head of
the British Council in Addis Ababa.
2. (C) Amb. Dewar said HMG continued to be concerned about
nine remaining Ethiopian hostages and their welfare, and that
their safe return and release was a priority for British
Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett. As highlighted in a
March 14 public statement issued on behalf of the freed
hostages, Dewar said statements and speculation should be
limited so as to not jeopardize the remaining hostages' safe
release. (NOTE: Media and the GOE report that eight hostages
remain captive, but the British Embassy believes there may be
nine. END NOTE.)
3. (U) Dewar said the French Embassy initially alerted the
British Embassy to suspicions of an abduction. A false but
widely circulated report that a French tourist group was
missing in the same area had heightened UK Embassy suspicions
regarding the safety of the largely British tour group in the
Afar region in northern Ethiopia. While the earlier rumor
regarding the French tourists was soon proven false, the
British Embassy had confirmed that the British tour group had
been abducted on March 1. Photographs of the tourists'
bullet-ridden vehicles circulated in the media less than a
week after the abduction. Dewar reported that the emptied
vehicles were completely disabled by gunfire, but that no
hostages were injured as a result. He confirmed details of
their abduction in the midst of an ARDUF raid on an Ethiopian
tax office (ref B).
4. (U) In response to the hostage-taking, Post issued a
warden message on March 8 announcing new restrictions on
travel of Embassy personnel along the Ethiopia-Eritrea border.
5. (C) COMMENT: We refer to intel channels for the extent of
Eritrea's role in the hostage-taking. In a subsequent meeting
on March 19 with P-5, EU, and other Ambassadors (ref A),
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Tekeda blamed Eritrean
intelligence for orchestrating the hostage-taking, and said
Ethiopia would seek to condemn Eritrea at the African Union
and the UN. Ethiopia's desire to highlight Eritrean
culpability runs counter to the UK's belief that such
publicity could endanger the remaining hostages. END COMMENT.
YAMAMOTO